Flexible mould for food baking

ABSTRACT

A flexible mould for food baking, comprises a body moulded integrally from a silicone material, having a base and a peripheral wall extending around the base for containing food baking ingredients. The body includes a rim portion extending along an upper edge of the wall around the cavity. The rim portion has a reinforcement frame co-extending therewith, which is moulded integrally with the rim portion from a relatively harder silicone material such that the frame provides a relatively more rigid support to facilitate holding of the body.

The present invention relates to a flexible mould for baking food suchas bread or cookies.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

More specifically, the invention relates to flexible food moulds made ofa flexible silicone elastomer material having integrated reinforcementmeans.

Moulds made of flexible or deformable materials are known and widelyused for cooking and especially baking. One example of such moulds isbakeware containing silicone elastomer material, generally known in theart as “silicone bakeware”. The major advantage of using siliconebakeware lies in their flexibility which enables easy removal of bakedfood items from the bakeware.

Most existing silicone bakeware has a notable weakness in maintainingstructure/shape when they contain food baking ingredients that are heavyand in semi-liquid form before baking, especially while they are beinggripped and lifted by their rim portions.

The invention seeks to obviate or at least alleviate such a problem orshortcoming by providing an improved flexible mould for food baking.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, there is provided a flexible mould for foodbaking, comprising a body moulded integrally from a first resilientlydeformable material, having a base and a peripheral wall extendingaround the base and upstanding therefrom to define a cavity forcontaining food baking ingredients. The body includes a rim portionextending along an upper edge of the wall around the cavity. The rimportion has a reinforcement frame co-extending therewith, which ismoulded integrally with the rim portion from a second resilientlydeformable material that is relatively more rigid than the firstresiliently deformable material, such that the frame provides arelatively more rigid support to facilitate holding of the body.

Preferably, the frame extends continuously around the rim portion.

It is preferred that the rim portion comprises a flange extendingoutwardly from the upper edge of the wall.

It is further preferred that the frame extends along an outermost edgeof the flange.

It is yet further preferred that the frame has a cross-section extendingdownwardly from the edge of the flange.

Advantageous, the wall, the rim portion and the frame have a combinedcross-section that is hollow.

In a preferred construction, the flange includes two parts on oppositesides of the body, each part extending to a relatively greater extentoutwardly from the upper edge of the wall and acting as a handle.

More preferably, each handle includes a reinforcement member mouldedintegrally therewith from the second resiliently deformable material.

Further more preferably, each reinforcement member is located on anupper surface of the corresponding handle.

Further more preferably, both reinforcement members are separate fromthe reinforcement frame.

It is preferred that the first resiliently deformable material comprisessilicone material.

It is further preferred that the second resiliently deformable materialalso comprises silicone material.

The first and second resiliently deformable materials may be ofcontrasting colours or tones.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of exampleonly, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a flexible mould forfood baking in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the mould of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the mould of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is cross-sectional view of the mould of FIG. 3, taken along lineIV-IV;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a reinforcement frame of the mould ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an end view of the frame of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the frame of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 8 is cross-sectional view of the frame of FIGURE 7, taken alongline VIII-VIII.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a flexible mould 10 for foodbaking embodying the invention, which is generally known as a loaf panand comprises a generally rectangular oblong body 100 having ahorizontal base 110, a near-vertical peripheral wall 120 and a rimportion 130. The wall 120 extends around the base 110, upstandingtherefrom, to define a cavity 11 having an upwardly facing opening 12for containing food baking ingredients. The rim portion 130 includes ahorizontal flange 131 which extends along an upper edge of the wall 120around the cavity 11, outwardly from the wall 120.

The flange 131 has a pair of parallel longer sections 132 running alongopposite sides of the body 100 and a pair of shorter sections 133 alongopposite ends thereof. Each shorter section 133 protrudes to arelatively greater extent from the upper edge of the wall 120 than thelonger sections 132 and turns at an acute angle of say 30°-40° upwards,acting as a handle 140 such that the overall mould 10 is normally heldby both hands gripping the handles 140.

The mould body 100, i.e. the base 110, the wall 120 and the rim portion130, etc., is moulded integrally from a resiliently deformable materialthat is essentially a silicone elastomer material. Such a siliconeelastomer material is obtained by cross-linking silicone in the presenceof a peroxide as a cross-linking agent. The cross-linkable silicone ispreferably dimethyl-vinyl siloxane (VMQ) silicone gum with apolymerization degree of 7000-8000 and a Shore A hardness value in therange of from about 30 to 90 at about 23° C.

The mould 10 can be moulded to various different shapes and sizes foruse in baking food as desired by customers. The silicone material usedin the making of the mould 10 is non-toxic thermally stable over a broadtemperature range such that it is safe for contact with foodstuff. Thesilicone material renders the mould 10 resiliently flexible and bendablesuch that it can easily be released from the baked food items or viceversa, and is also convenient to store or carry with.

By reason of its flexibility, the mould 10 tends to be insufficientlystrong for holding food especially before the food is baked when thefood ingredients are heavy and soft and in semi-liquid form; the mould10 may become unstable particularly during movement i.e. losing shapethereby likely to lead to spilling/overflow of the liquid/pasty contentfor example. For this reason, the rim portion 130 of the mould 10 isfitted with an integrated reinforcement frame 150.

The frame 150 co-extends with the rim portion 130 and continuously alongits entire length. It is moulded integrally with the rim portion 130from another, though practically the same, resiliently deformablesilicone material that is relatively more rigid or harder (i.e. having alarger Shore A hardness value) than the mould body material, such thatthe frame 150 provides a relatively more rigid support to facilitateholding of the overall mould 10 containing food/food ingredients.

The frame 150 extends along an outermost edge 134 of the flange 131. Ithas a generally flat cross-section which extends vertically downwardlyfrom the flange edge 134 such that the wall 120, the rim portion 130 andthe frame 150 have a combined cross-section that is hollow for enhancedstrength, generally of an inverted U-shape, at least along both longerflange sections 132.

Each of the two handles 140 includes a reinforcement pad 151 which ismoulded integrally with the handle 140, on and over the upper surfacethereof, from the same silicone material as the frame 150. Both handlepads 151 are separate from the frame 150.

The silicone materials for making the mould body 100 and the supportframe 150 and handle pads 151 have different or contrasting colours ortones.

The subject mould 10 is manufactured using a two-stage mouldingoperation involving insert moulding. The support frame 150 and thehandle pads 151 are first moulded to shape using the relatively hardersilicone material. These semi-finished pieces are then placed at therelevant positions inside a larger mould for moulding the loaf pan body100 using the same but softer silicone material.

The invention has been given by way of example only, and variousmodifications of and/or alterations to the described embodiment may bemade by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope ofthe invention as specified in the appended claims.

1. A flexible mould for food baking, comprising: a body mouldedintegrally from a first resiliently deformable material, having a baseand a peripheral wall extending around the base and upstanding therefromto define a cavity for containing food baking ingredients; the bodyincluding a rim portion extending along an upper edge of the wall aroundthe cavity; wherein the rim portion has a reinforcement frameco-extending therewith, which is moulded integrally with the rim portionfrom a second resiliently deformable material that is relatively morerigid than the first resiliently deformable material, such that theframe provides a relatively more rigid support to facilitate holding ofthe body.
 2. The flexible mould as claimed in claim 1, wherein the frameextends continuously around the rim portion.
 3. The flexible mould asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the rim portion comprises a flange extendingoutwardly from the upper edge of the wall.
 4. The flexible mould asclaimed in claim 3, wherein the frame extends along an outermost edge ofthe flange.
 5. The flexible mould as claimed in claim 4, wherein theframe has a cross-section extending downwardly from the edge of theflange.
 6. The flexible mould as claimed in claim 1, wherein the wall,the rim portion and the frame have a combined cross-section that ishollow.
 7. The flexible mould as claimed in claim 3, wherein the flangeincludes two parts on opposite sides of the body, each part extending toa relatively greater extent outwardly from the upper edge of the walland acting as a handle.
 8. The flexible mould as claimed in claim 7,wherein each handle includes a reinforcement member moulded integrallytherewith from the second resiliently deformable material.
 9. Theflexible mould as claimed in claim 8, wherein each reinforcement memberis located on an upper surface of the corresponding handle.
 10. Theflexible mould as claimed in claim 8, wherein both reinforcement membersare separate from the reinforcement frame.
 11. The flexible mould asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the first resiliently deformable materialcomprises silicone material.
 12. The flexible mould as claimed in claim11, wherein the second resiliently deformable material also comprisessilicone material.
 13. The flexible mould as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe first and second resiliently deformable materials are of contrastingcolours or tones.